Top : The only train that runs between Ethiopia and Djibouti breaks down in the desert.
During the final decade of the 1800’s, the royal Ethiopian court dreamed
of a railway linking Ethiopia's capital with
the Red Sea Coast. The 780km railway was the brainchild
of the swiss technician Alfred Ilg, assistant to the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik.
His idea was to connect Addis Abeba, Ethiopia's capital, with the french territories
in Somalia,
now the small country Djibouti.
The railway was finaly completed at the end of 1918, after nearly twenty years
of work. For each kilometer, 70 tons
of tracks, sleepers and telegraph poles were needed. To keep production costs
down, it was decided to lay just one track, so only one train uses the line.
